All Around Camp and All in a Day's Work

Greetings once again!  See, I went quiet for a couple of months, now we have all this catch up to do!  So, I left you with a photo of Bailey, trying to get us to play Giraffe Toss with her, now here's another one, I guess I caught her mid-yawn.  This was all part of a 10 day challenge on Facebook.  She does look fierce, doesn't she?  Ha.  We know better.

Out on the trails, we find cairns periodically.  We have always enjoyed the creativity of others, and we often add to the pile, or create one of our own.  However.  We are now on Federal Property.  And operating under the auspices of Federal Agents of the US Fish & Wildlife Service.  And as such, we have a responsibility to discourage and destroy things of this nature.  :(  Bummer.  I know people put a lot of effort into building these, and they're often engineering marvels.  However.  One good, swift kick, and they rocks are scattered, creating more natural havens and refuges for the woodland nymphs and fairies critters that call these parts home.

Check out the snake charmer on that cutie!  Yes, that is my new collapsible walking stick, fully extended, in snake charmer mode.  We hope I don't have to use it for anything but climbing the hills.

These Ash Junipers are commonly known as Cedars, are the exclusive nesting grounds (as in, world-wide!) of the Golden-Cheek Warbler. They have been reclassified and are no longer on the Endangered Species list, but they are still pretty rare.  They use the strips of bark in nest building, so these stands of cedar are pretty important.  We have been here two months now, and we've seen (and heard) lots of birds, but we have not yet been privileged to spot a Golden Cheeked Warbler.

That's Lake Travis off to the left there...

And, what have we here?  This is a clump of daddy-long leg spiders.  I don't know what a clump of 'em is called, nor does Google, apparently.  They freaked me the Hell out, let's just leave it at that.  I'm going to try to embed my little video in here, and I hope it plays.  It's frikkin' freaky and I left the area fully freaked out.  Of course, I want you to share equally!

On the way out to Doeskin Ranch, we have the opportunity to travel Cow Creek Road.  Wonder why they call it Cow Creek?  Wonder no longer...

Once we got to Doeskin Ranch, we started hiking and got to see some more of the beautiful wildflowers of Hill Country.  I thought these were milkweed pods, but they're very low to the ground, as opposed to on tall stalks.  Further research determines them to be Verbesina Virginica.  Frostweed, to you and me. And, YES.  They exude a sticky, gummy sap that is white, just like milkweed. They are of special value to honeybees and butterflies.  But, they ARE sticky!  So, nooo, I won't be taking any seeds home with me.  Yes, I tried.  No, I couldn't stand the sticky.

This is an oooooold corn crib and Driver just couldn't resist opening the door to see what (or who) was inside.  Spoiler Alert....no one.

And this little Texas Spiny Lizard was just about invisible!

Off to the right, you can see the "balconies" or terraces of rock for which this area was named. Yep, we're headed up there.

But first, a water crossing.

It's quite the view from the top....

Our shadow selves were glad to take a break.  And very glad we had brought bottled water along...

Ah....we thought we were at the top, but, we were wrong.

Now we're REALLY at the top.  That IS a sigh of relief you heard.

And now we can head back down, right? 

We don't know why there were clumps of cedar stumps all along the trailsides.  We asked our boss upon our return (we didn't call here from here because THERE IS NO CELL RECEPTION!  ACK!!), but she didn't know either. It's not something we'll ever know, I suppose.

Ever on guard...boy, does she have it made.  All she has to do is wait for us to come home and feed her!

Saturdays, down in Cedar Park, by the mall (remember them?  I can't tell you the last time we went to a mall!), they hold a Farmers' Market.  It was nice to see masks required, as well as hand sanitizer stations at each end and the pavement marked off for social distancing while standing in lines.  Most stands were situated such that only one shopper could enter at a time (two, if they were together).

Back to work on Monday, Driver finally gets to run the Z-track, zero turn mower.  With a 60 inch deck!  Can you say, Happy as a clam in mud?

Hi Ho, Off to Work I Go!

Now here is a much better picture of a painted bunting.  Sadly, he had flown into our car window and stunned himself so badly that he couldn't move, even though I was close enough to touch him.  We fretted over him for a few minutes, I texted the boss to see if we had a rehabber on site or nearby (no answer), debated putting him in a box....in the end, we left him alone, and after a couple of hours, he had flown away.  At least, that's what I choose to believe.  But isn't he beautiful?  Yes, I know it's definitely a HE.  The females are not nearly as colorful.

So that's all for today....stay tuned for more adventures of Balcones coming up soon.

Stay safe, stay well, MASK UP!